Where is the PdV term in the first law of black hole thermodynamics?

Abstract

Traditional treatments of the first law of black hole thermodynamics do not include a discussion of pressure and volume. We give an overview of recent developments proposing a definition of volume that can be used to extend the first law to include these appropriately. New results are also presenting relating to the critical point and the associated second order phase transition for a rotating black-hole in four-dimensional space-time which is asymptotically anti-de Sitter. In line with known results for a non-rotating charged black-hole, this phase transition is shown to be of Van der Waals type with mean field exponents.